Windows 7 is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was released to manufacturing on July 22, 2009, and became generally available on October 22, 2009. It is the successor to Windows Vista, and it was intended to be an incremental upgrade to Microsoft Windows, addressing Windows Vistas poor critical reception while maintaining hardware and software compatibility. Windows 7 is an operating system designed for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, tablet PCs, and media center PCs. It is the follow-up to the Windows Vista operating system and was released commercially in October 2009. Windows 7 is built on the Windows Vista kernel and was intended to be an update to the Vista OS. It uses the same Aero user interface (UI) that debuted in Windows Vista, and it introduced new features such as the ability to pin applications to the taskbar, rearrange applications on the taskbar, and support multitouch capabilities. It also features more accurate handwriting recognition and supports 64-bit processing, which is increasingly the standard in desktop PCs. Windows 7 is available in several editions, including Home Premium, Professional, and Ultimate, each with different features aimed at different market segments. It is important to note that support for Windows 7 ended on January 14, 2020, and users are encouraged to consider upgrading to a newer operating system, such as Windows 10, for continued support and security updates.